She’s A Republican And I Support Her, Because This Was Never About Politics

Ana Navarro is a Republican strategist. Though she’s no stranger to political commentary on the news, she’s one of a a few handfuls of bold voices in the media who are willing to speak truth to power right now, regardless of potential consequences. Navarro voicing her dislike of Trump is nothing new, but the clip of her talking with Wolf Blitzer, where she accurately describes Trump and his Twitter Tantrums, was exactly what everyone in America was thinking that day when Trump’s latest Twitter diversion pulled attention from the actual newsworthy events of the day.

Both the terrible tweet in question and the clip of Navarro’s satisfying anger rant made the rounds on social media later the same day. However, one of the latest trends I’ve noticed on social media is people claiming the distinction of being blocked from Trump’s Twitter account (hashtag, “blocked by Trump.”) So, if you’re one of the seemingly countless people who’ve been blocked from @POTUS, or @realDonaldTrump‘s Twitter account, or both, you may not have seen the tweet for yourself. Here you go:

Trump’s tweets from 6/29/17, attacking Joe Scarborough & Mika Brzezinski. Trump stands by his tweets and now claims his use of social media is “MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL.”

Navarro speaking her mind on the news lately, specifically calling out the behaviors in Trump that we’d like to see eradicated from humankind altogether, is totally awesome. Here is one of several Republicans I can fully get behind and support. Because her statements aren’t about politics, they’re about humanity:

In fact, everything Navarro said in that interview with Blitzer is exactly why the 2016 election was never about “politics” in the first place. A large majority of us, including some Republicans, knew who Donald Trump was and was not. We warned his supporters – gently at first, then harsher later as we yelled “FIRE” to a seemingly deaf audience. Trump is not a Republican. He’s not a Christian. He’s not an ally. He’s certainly not a friend to the “forgotten men and women of America.” He’s a senior citizen, a fully grown man, absolutely set in his ways and unlikely to change, who also happens to embody the absolute worst of humankind.

On the campaign trail and beyond he has proven this, over and over and over. And yet, his supporters still say, “Let’s give him a chance; Let’s see what he can do! He’s new to this; Give him time to learn!” The things is, a large majority of Americans told the Trump supporters exactly what he would do, and how long he would do it for. And we were (and continue to be) indisputably right.

You see, Donald Trump as President to the American people is basically what cousin Oliver was to The Brady Bunch TV show, i.e., the patron saint of jumping the shark. His entrance is inexplicable; it upsets a (not perfect) but working dynamic; is annoying (at best), and is a seemingly last-ditch effort to shake things up. While good intentions may have been the force behind adding him to the scene, his presence (to try and boost ratings) certainly didn’t help because he never contributed anything of value. He had no memorable moments, nor did he change the direction of the show.

Much of the same about Cousin Oliver Syndrome can be said of President Donald Trump – only, Trump isn’t young. Or cute. Or funny. Like cousin Oliver, indeed many of the intentions behind putting Trump in this position were good. People weren’t satisfied with “status quo;” they wanted to shake-up Washington. But, one way cousin Oliver and Trump differ is that Trump certainly has produced… uhm… “memorable” moments, and he has definitely changed the direction of our nation. I’ve yet to encounter anyone who can successfully dispute that Trump has lowered (if not damaged) the level of political discourse.

When he has members of his own party saying he is embarrassing, shameful, and disgusting, and when they are giving advice such as Ana Navarro who says, “I’ll say this about Republicans: I’m really tired of hearing words like ‘disappointed,’ like disturbed, like I’m bothered, like I wish he wouldn’t do it. It’s time that somebody looks at the camera and looks at him and calls him up and says ‘listen, you crazy lunatic 70-year-old man-baby, STOP IT,'” he and his “advisors” really should listen. Even as I write this, perhaps for the first time in 2017, all sides of government have come together on one thing: their utter disgust with POTUS “punching down” at people like cable TV hosts via Twitter Tantrums.

Additionally, that Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist, had to put it in these exact, no-nonsense words? It’s already beyond the point when Trump (and the people who support him) should’ve admitted that all the #MAGA hoopla was never about politics, but more about the tearing down of all the hard work accomplished by a strong, poised, composed, undeterred, wise, incredibly cool, and smart black man. A black man who persisted, led by example, and kept his cool, while a majority of Republican congress tried to block his every move, and our current POTUS taunted from the sidelines, fanning the flames of Obama’s disproved “birther conspiracy.” Trump campaigned on emotions. He knew his base. And whether because of overt racism, or subconscious hints in the back of their minds aligning with Reagan’s notion of “welfare queens” depleting government programs, yeah, it resonated, and it was at least a little bit about race.

#MAGA? Baloney. America was already “great.” In my lifetime, our great nation was never the “American carnage” that Trump tried to paint a portrait of during his inaugural speech, one composed of “rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation.” America was already great – not perfect, but great. We knew this. This is why we said and we repeated, “a vote for Trump is an attack on the foundation of our democratic society, and an attack on the American people – specifically, the marginalized people, who we should ALL care about.

My 74-year-old Mom is among those marginalized groups: the seniors, who stand to lose healthcare at a critical point in life. She has often said she “never understood how all the good people of Germany could just stand by and watch their country be taken over by the horrors of Hitler.” Since watching the 2016 election and its entire hideous aftermath continuing to this day, with all the complicity and people afraid to stand up and say something, she frequently says, “Now, I understand.”

Though she was too young to understand the holocaust at the time, she certainly remembers years and years of discourse regarding The Nuremberg Trials and what led up to that beyond-dismal point in history. Of course, back then information didn’t travel warp-speed like now, but people were certainly not in the dark about what was happening, either. My mom and dad (and indeed countless others for a while now), have likened what’s happening with Trump and America, to Hitler and Nazi Germany.

My parents are good, salt-of-the-earth people, the kind who will literally give you the shirt off their backs, if they even sense that you need it. They express frustration not only with the election and its outcome, but also with everything that has been underhandedly pushed through since that election. “When good people are only told ‘alternative facts’ and are not seeing the whole truth,” they say, “it seems they just allow Trump to get by with it. And when the ones who are strong enough to search out and stand up for the truth end up getting attacked and punished for doing so, it shows exactly how much Trump is like Hitler.”

I know the thoughts of my parents are echoed around the country, regardless of political affiliation, when they say things like, “America has been blessed with fairly good leaders who at least allowed our system of checks and balances to work; Until now, we’ve not been faced with a bald-faced liar who punishes all who disagree with him. We’re afraid when enough ‘good people’ finally realize what’s going on and try to stand up to him, he’ll be so ensconced with power that he cannot be overpowered. Just like Hitler.”

Ana Navarro also says Trump lacks the sufficient character (to be POTUS), she calls him mean, nasty, immature, and unstable, she asserts that he “acts like a crazy person with anyone who attacks him because he’s got thin skin,” and that “he’s never going to pivot.” These are all the things that Hillary and Bernie supporters have been saying since Donald Trump made that infamous descent down the gaudy escalator of Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for President.

Those of us who are in any way a part of helping society move ever forward, whether it’s through The Peaceful Resistance, and/or grassroots organizations like Indivisible, we must take Obama’s advice and be vigilant, but not afraid. From the gloom-and-doom portrait Trump tried to paint, representing our great nation as “American carnage,” to his weird fixations with women, blood, ratings, and Twitter, it has been clear that he wants to use fear-mongering to both lead and divide us.

All of the “forgotten people” Trump alluded to on the campaign trail and even in his inaugural speech – those same “forgotten people” who voted for him? Well, it’s really hard to have sympathy for them as they continue to vote against their own – and ALL of our – interests. By not recognizing that we all benefit from fair minimum wages, good education, universal health care, social security, and the like, they are furthering Trump’s cause, which has nothing to do with remembering the “forgotten people.”

Remember the Reagan era, when the “forgotten people” were comprised of working class black folks, and they decided to push back? They were told to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. That mentality doesn’t seem to work for the “forgotten” white man. Why not? Because the type of people who tout this type of phrase forget that 1.) the meaning behind the phrase is that it’s literally impossible for anyone to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, and 2.) most people who use those phrases seem to not realize just how much good fortune they’ve been the beneficiary of to begin with.

Most of us are not buying Trump’s “American carnage” and the type of “forgotten people” he mentions. Yes indeed, there are real, forgotten people. But they aren’t who Trump appeals to. Because it seems that the pro-Trumpers who are still left believe that having their feelings hurt over feeling victimized because they voted for Trump is somehow equal to the actual damage that results from misogynistic and racist hate-speech, the kind that Trump spews. Which is ludicrous. Because misogynistic and racist hate-speech serve to further systematic oppression and to violate human rights, whereas white, often “Christian” tears over hurt feelings (because people don’t like that you voted for Trump) is not a result of systematic oppression, nor are hurt feelings of the privileged equal to violation of human rights.

Regardless, I believe, if any Trump supporter has buyer’s remorse, or has realized the cult they had somehow become unwittingly entangled in, they should find themselves welcomed to the growing fold of people who don’t think Donald Trump is fit to be POTUS. And yes, I know it’s not the job of the liberals, progressives, the left, or even the anti-Trump Republicans to make Trump supporters comfortable now should they wish they had a vote do-over. I understand that people who’ve had their basic human rights threatened do not have the responsibility of assuaging their attackers. And, I know there was no shortage of warnings and red flags that voting for Trump was incredibly dangerous, irresponsible, and reckless. Nevertheless, we’re all in this together now, whether we like it or not, and we have to move forward somehow.

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Martie Todd Sirois (pronounced 'sir-ROY') is a writer whose work has been frequently featured on HuffPost, Medium, Scary Mommy, and several other media outlets. Martie is also the mom who wrote & posted a letter on social media in 2016 that went viral, thanking the tween girls' clothing store Justice. In the turbulent aftermath of her state's notorious anti-LGBTQ law, HB2 (the "bathroom bill"), Martie wanted to thank Justice for giving her (then, gender creative son) a wonderful and affirming experience despite local government trying to mandate public accommodations (including bathrooms, locker rooms, and changing facilities) to be gender segregated exclusively by the sex indicated on one's birth certificate. She hoped by making her Facebook post public, she could let her local LGBTQ+ community know that this store was an affirming environment for TGNC kids. She never expected it to go viral, but within a few days of publishing it, that letter had been shared over 25,000 times, and two years later, continues to be circulated widely around the internet, with new people discovering it and seeking Martie out to relay how much her letter touched them for various reasons.
Martie has also been featured on BuzzFeed, Upworthy, That Odd Mom, Spoke for Red Tricycle, The Good Men Project, Today Show Parenting Community, and many other media outlets. Some of her work has been translated and syndicated worldwide.
While she has enjoyed a 30+ year “hobby career” performing on stage as an award-winning actress in both musical and non-musical theatre, Martie now enjoys using her free time to write about any and everything - but mostly about life with three children, the youngest of whom has been gender non-conforming since the age of 2 1/2 years old. In the process of learning how best to support a TGNC child who avidly swims against the current, Martie has also unwittingly (but lovingly) become a speaker, educator, and advocate for the LGBTQ and especially, the TGNC (trans and gender non-conforming) communities.
As someone who "writes for therapy" and has kept numerous journals all her life, Martie got her first public and professional writing experience when she read some of her blog material out loud for the first time ever, in an audition, and was then cast in the national live reading event series, Listen To Your Mother (RDU, 2016). For eight years, LTYM gave local writers across all 50 states and Canada a platform to read their original work on motherhood (or about mothers) before a live audience, and to have their readings enshrined forever on the YouTube LTYM channel. LTYM opened up many opportunities for Martie, starting with sharing some of her work on WUNC Radio's (NPR affiliate, NC) "The State of Things" with Frank Stasio. (LTYM, founded by Ann Imig, concluded its eight-year run with a national series finale in 2017.)
For her writing, Martie has also been interviewed by John Fugelsang on SiriusXM Insight's "Tell Me Everything, With John Fugelsang;" by The Washington Post; by Kind World of WBUR Radio (NPR, Boston); and she particpated with her husband and TGNC child in "StoryCorps," the prestigious Peabody award-winning podcast that shares important unscripted conversations, with weekly broadcasts debuting on NPR's "Morning Edition." Martie's family's story was one of the recorded stories chosen by StoryCorps to be publicly aired in or around September of 2017.
Martie is also the founder and leader of S.E.A.R.CH. (Safe Environmient for the Acceptance of Rainbow CHildren), a program of the LGBT Center of Raleigh, that serves as a playgroup for TGNC children ages 12 and under, and as a discussion group for parents. S.E.A.R.CH. also has a secret Facebook group which currently allows over 260 members, from all over the country and beyond, to celebrate, and have connections with other parents & caregivers supportively raising TGNC children.
Martie has proudly served on The Family Equality Council, (Southern Advisory Board), and greatly enjoys opportunities to guest lecture or speak on gender, inclusiveness, gender diversity, and the issues facing TGNC people. She has presented on these topics at a range of locations, from public universities like NCSU, to more private settings among public school guidance counselor meetings. Martie also spoke on a panel that presented on the topic of creating safe & inclusive spaces for LGBTQ+ students, in the Safe Schools of NC's annual Conference for Educators.
When not working or writing, Martie loves living and volunteering in her hometown in NC with her husband, Matt, their three beautiful children, and their two peculiar but lovable pets.
Visit her online at: www.gendercreativelife.com
Twitter: @TheMartieSirois